Long Nights
by UberNerd121
Summary: It takes a long time for Nos-4-a2 to adjust, especially when he isn't as strong as he'd like to think.


I open my optic. It's dark, the hush of night interrupted only by the whispering rustle of leaves outside the window. I sit up, struggling through the thick fog in my processors, and rub my hand over my face. My power core is hot, just as it always is when my dreams are so vivid. I take in a slow, deep breath to run air through my ventilation system.

There seems to be some power determined to keep me from becoming complacent in my new life. I push the sheets away from myself and leave the bed, gliding to the window and opening the curtains. Eve's gardens stretch out a few hundred yards before the landscape turns to fields of tall, coarse grass. In thick, green, infrared light, the grass shudders under the weight of the wind as if it's being chased by ghosts. I turn my night vision off. It takes a while for my optics to adjust, but it's easier to think this way.

I stare at my hands on the window sill. I'm low on power, but there's nothing I can really do at this time of night. I won't be able to go back into sleep mode if I eat. Do I even want to sleep? I don't know that I could if I tried right now, thanks to those damned dreams. If I want to watch video playback of my memories, I'll do it on my own while I'm conscious, and I certainly won't go back more than five or six years. What's the point of dreaming anyway? The organics are probably afraid of creating a being that lacks their limitations, so intelligent robots have to suffer all the same things they do. I don't want this. If I never saw my old memories again, it would be too soon. Picturing the images that had so recently been forced upon me makes my power core constrict.

I laugh dryly. Lord, what would Eve think of me right now, scared out of bed by a nightmare? I look up at the window to share a grim smile with my reflection. It's hard to sympathize with the whelp who stares back at me. When I try to look beyond him, I can't see past the dim, scarlet lights, so I give up and look back down at my hands.

"...Nos?"

Fantastic.

I turn my head to see Eve sitting up on the far side of the bed, her eyeforms soft, fresh out of sleep mode. She blinks, evaluating me with heavy thoughts. If I'm tired, I know that she must be: her resting cycle is far from complete. I murmur an apology in an undertone and look away again, expecting her to slip back offline. Of course, it's foolish of me to underestimate her level of concern. She floats out of bed, warily hovering along a wavering path to meet me. With her hand on my elbow, I support some of her weight and she presses her head against my shoulder.

"I know that look," she whispers.

"...Hmm. Don't worry about it," I tell my reflection. Her eyeforms are in the window now, too, and she's looking at me.

"I have to, Nos." She blinks slowly, then turns her head so that her visor is against my shoulder. She's barely online.

"If you're too tired to tease me, Eve, you should really go back to bed," I smile a little bit.

"...I don't want to tease you," she murmurs.

I look at her reflection, but her eyeforms are still closed. Maybe I can guide her back to bed and tuck her in. It wouldn't take long for her to drift off, then I could get back up and go to the lab. Eat something and start my day early. Take my mind off things.

"Nos?"

"Yes?"

She lifts her head to rest her chin on my shoulder. The reflections of our optics meet. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I think for a while. It would be pointless to say that everything's fine. She reads me as well as I read her, but she doesn't need the advanced sensory system to do it. She just knows. "...Thank you for your concern, but that's really all I could ask for. Just get some rest."

She sighs so softly that I hardly catch it. "If you say so."

"...Really?"

Her shoulders lift in a slouched shrug. "I won't pretend I know everything that goes on in your CPU. I trust you. If anything comes to mind, you know where to find me."

She drifts away from me a few inches and our reflections look away from each other to meet in reality. When she leans up, I lean down to reach her in the middle. She presses a gentle kiss to my lips and pats my shoulder. "Love you, Nos."

"Love you too."

She turns back to the bed and gets in on my side, dragging all the sheets on top of herself.

I give a low, quiet laugh. I'll never be able to let her know how much she's actually helped me. My thoughts aren't so heavy with her to bear some of the weight, even if she doesn't know it... that strong little robot. After all, she was the one to defeat me in the first place, the me that haunts my hours of sleep mode. With her around, I never really have to worry about that version of myself taking over again. Eve wards him off just as much as she attracts me.

When I look out the of window again, I can see through the night as if each star shed as much light as the moon.


End file.
